On a Dragon Wing and a Prayer
by Strawberry Eggs
Summary: Nah used to believe that she was a good judge of character. That changed as a certain tactician-in-training surprised her, her initial impressions of the boy altered. Their acquaintance became friendship, and that friendship something more, all while they learned more about the other and perhaps even help each other to grow a little. (Nah x Morgan)
1. A Different Impression

After pondering over this story, planning it out, and considering just forgetting about it several times, I finally decided to quit putting it off and actually work on it seriously. It's been nearly a year since the idea to do this came to me. I long ago noticed how, if ever slightly, Morgan and Nah acted differently around each other. Nah tended to be abrasive and snappy in her other supports. With Morgan, though, she is rather patient and gets along well with him, even in their C support. Morgan is also not as goofy as he can be in those supports. From there, I wondered how they would have acted before those supports. Was Nah perhaps less patient with him? How did he earn her trust? I got the idea to chronicle the start of their relationship as well as how they fell in love. While I will include at least part their supports, they won't be copied verbatim, and I will expand on them. This story will also contain some personal fanon (or "headcanon", as the kids like to call it these days) on the game world and the characters, but I'll avoid going overboard with it.

The main pairing is obviously Nah x Morgan(M), with Chrom x Female Avatar (Robin) and Nowi x Libra as background. There will also be some hints and mentions of other pairings I like. As far as **spoilers** are concerned, though it won't contain many for the game, **I would still recommend having finished Awakening before reading this**. I hope to get out at least two chapters a month or so, but I can't make any promises. Every time I do, I end up breaking them. Regardless, I hope to do this story, the characters, and this couple justice. I hope you all will enjoy and please, tell me what you think in a review. Tell me what I did well, what I did terribly, tell me if the title is as lame as I think it is, and yes, go ahead and nitpick about my grammar and typos. I go over my stories as thoroughly as possible, but there's only so much a single pair of eyes can find.

As a final note, the cover image was drawn by Len Barboza. You can find a link to her site in my profile.

* * *

**Chapter One - A Different Impression**

Nah used to believe that she was a good judge of character. People were easy to read, however, when they ignored you at best and hated you at worst. Traveling back over a decade into the past, a few years before she was born, changed that somewhat. Some members of the Shepherds were fairly transparent, but others, especially those who came from her time, surprised her more often than not.

Nah let out a sigh as she sat on the ground, her back against her tent. Her mother had finally stopped pestering her about playing together. Nah was very glad to have met her parents, even though they lived in another time, another world. While she felt a sincere affection for her mother already, the older manakete's childish antics irritated her.

She could not afford to behave like a child, despite her appearance. She needed to find her role, her niche, in this army. While the book she was reading was penned by a human, it offered some interesting insights into how to use dragonstones. The book contained less vital, but still fascinating information on manaketes as well. She knew little about her non-human heritage, having lost her mother while still an infant and not knowing any other dragonkin growing up. Sometimes she wondered if she was like Yarne, the last of an entire race, in the future. She heard rumors of small groups of manaketes, but these were only hearsay. She wished to speak to Nowi about manakete culture, or at least more about Nowi herself, but she found few opportunities to so far.

Lost in the book, she did not hear the approach of footsteps. She did hear a male voice say, "Oh wow! I didn't know we had a book like that."

Nah looked up to see a blue-haired adolescent in a purple cloak. The boy, Morgan, was crouched down slightly in order to better see the cover of the book she was reading.

"Oh, I guess it could belong to you," he continued.

"Do you always interrupt people when they're reading?" The blonde dragonkin asked as she narrowed her eyes.

Morgan stood up, then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Uh, yeah—I mean, no! Not usually, or at all!" he replied, flustered.

Nah had only known Morgan in passing, perhaps having spoken to him less than to her other companions from the future. She was on good terms with his sister, Lucina, but she and Morgan had never really interacted much. The young prince was always friendly, and his recent memory loss had not at all affected his amiable nature, it seemed. She wondered if he was this nosy before, however.

"In that case, I would appreciate it if you let me keep reading," Nah said with a frown. She held the book back up, covering her face.

The boy did not get the message, seeing as he continued to stand still in front of her. Though Nah couldn't see his face, he gave off a smell of confusing intent. He was not certain what to do. She felt like suggesting that he stand somewhere else, but before she could decide, Morgan spoke.

"I never really thought that stones would need a book to learn to use. It looks like you and your mother just hold your stones up, get enveloped in light, and in a flash of flower petals, you're dragons!"

Nah growled as she lowered her book again. Before she could snap at him, though, he continued to talk.

"But maybe there's more to it than that, huh? Maybe there's a special way to hold them? Or do you have to imagine the dragon and really concentrate on it? I wonder if such techniques could be used for unique strategies." The boy hummed in thought.

The half-manakete blinked. Morgan's scent became more distinct. He was genuinely interested and curious. Even if she did not have her dragonkin sense of smell, she could see the curiosity in his eyes. From what she remembered of him before his amnesia, Morgan had an interest in tactics. It seemed to have only increased after he lost most of his memories.

There was more to it than that, though. There was another intent mixed with his interest. Morgan wanted to get to know her; be friends with her. He was not just using her book as an excuse, and certainly did not want to mock her. Now that she thought of it, Morgan never struck her as the sort to make fun of others. He could be a mild nuisance, but that wasn't the same. Regardless, his intent intrigued her for some reason, and her initial annoyance subsided. Nah lowered her book and began to speak.

"This book is more for a single person to learn to hone dragonstone use than as any sort of group strategy. It also has general information on different types of dragonstones. It hasn't explained why there aren't any around anymore; at least that I've seen."

"Different types?" Morgan asked with a bemused look on his face, "Like what kinds? What do they do?"

"There are stones for each type of manakete. This book lists fire, ice, mage, and divinestones. Apparently, a divine dragon like me could use all of them and can turn into the corresponding dragon." Nah idly wondered if being half-human might have prevented that. She did not voice the concern, though.

"Ah, so you're a divine dragon, and your mother is too, I guess?" Morgan asked Nah nodded and he continued, "That sounds really important."

"I don't really know. I'm not sure why we're referred to as such. Naga is called the Divine Dragon, but I don't know how we're related, if at all." She had only learned about the different manakete tribes that day.

"Well, maybe you can ask your mother?" Morgan offered thoughtfully.

Nah nodded. She could also perhaps ask Naga as well the next time she prayed. Would a history lesson really be something she should badger a deity about, though?

"Still, it's amazing to know that there are other kinds of manaketes. I hope you meet one, or even get to turn into one someday!" Morgan said with a wide smile.

"We'll see," Nah said with a hint of one.

After a brief moment of silence, Morgan said, "I guess Mom got that book for you rather than for your mother. I don't think she's much of a reader."

"That's for certain. She would never be able to sit still long enough to read it," Nah said, her tone of voice dry as she recalled her mother scoffing at studying earlier that day.

The blue-haired boy chuckled. "Yeah, your mother is always running around and playing games."

The blonde girl let out a sigh. "I wish she would act her age. I tried to tell her how important it is to study, but she doesn't want to hear it."

She instantly regretted the mention about age. Morgan might say something along the lines of "you're one to talk," or that Nah looked like a kid herself. Despite her appearance, she was two or three years his senior.

Instead, the boy said, "How old is she anyway? A thousand years? You'd think she would know something that important by now."

"E-exactly," Nah replied, missing a beat, "I told her that we need to study and train to use our stones to the fullest. How else are we going to stop this time from becoming like our future?"

"It sounds more like you're her mother," Morgan said with a chuckle. At some point while they were talking, the prince had sat down cross-legged on the ground near Nah.

"Well, sure studying is important, as is training. I actually find studying to be fun," Morgan continued, "But I also think it's important to have other kinds of fun, too."

Nah narrowed her eyes, "Like playing games?"

"Well, that's part of it, although it doesn't have to involve running around until you pass out. There are board games, card games, word puzzles, novels, and other things. I'm willing to try anything at least once."

"So you're the adventurous type, then?" Nah asked.

The blue-haired tactician-in-training did not reply immediately as he mulled over what the half-manakete said.

"Sort of, I guess. I don't remember very much about myself, unless it has to do with Mother."

"Oh…I'm sorry, Morgan," Nah said as she cringed.

"About what, my memory loss? Na—uh, no, don't worry about it. I don't mind that much. Because of my amnesia, though, everything feels like a new experience. I might even learn a few things about myself."

Despite his slight stumble with her name, Nah could not help but smile with him.

"But anyway," he continued, "what I'm trying to say is that it's important to enjoy ourselves as well. We're still kids, after all."

Nah's mood dropped when she heard him say "kids," but she then realized he also said "we're." She was used to being thought of as a child and was usually irked by it. Lucina was one of the few people that she did not mind being treated as such. This, however, was not the same. Morgan considered himself a child, not just her.

"Oh right!" the boy suddenly remarked as he stood back up, "I was on my way to meet with father."

The blonde blinked, "With Chrom?"

"Yeah, for sparring, and I hope to help get my memories of him back. It hasn't worked so far, but you'll never know."

"Maybe it will work," Nah responded.

Morgan smiled, "It was great talking to you, Nah. See you around!"

"Bye, Morgan," she replied with her own smile before the boy walked off.

That was easily the longest conversation she had with the prince. He was an interesting person to be sure; a little odd, perhaps, but interesting. She was still mildly surprised at how her perception of him changed. She thought of him as optimistic to the point of immaturity and a little dense at times. He was all of those, but he was also thoughtful, considerate, and eager to learn, both in the sense of knowledge and about those around him.

Her talk with the boy was actually quite pleasant, despite how it was initiated. The notion of people not only minding her presence, but actively seeking her acquaintance was still strange and new to her. Her other companions from the future were nice enough, but she was not close to many of them. She found Morgan easy to talk to and very much genuine. She liked that.

"See you around," she said, though he was long out of earshot.


	2. Interrupted Game

**Chapter 2 - Interrupted Game**

If there was one thing Nah did not enjoy about the past, it was having to killed people. These were living, breathing, thinking humans, not the mindless hordes of undead she was glad to burn to ash. True, sapient races were not endangered in the past as they were in her time, and these were enemy soldiers. None of them were certain how, but the war against Valm had some bearing on Grima's resurrection, so them being there and aiding their parents was important. Even so, that reasoning did not completely keep those thoughts away. Nah was glad for the "break."

A few days ago, the army received a message that Tiki, the Voice of Naga herself, would perform a ritual in order to regain her power. She asked for the Shepherds to be there for the rite. Nah also had to admit that she was quite excited to meet Tiki. In her time, the Grimleal had assassinated the Voice. Tiki was a living legend, having known the Hero-King Marth and aiding him. Nah wanted to ask her so many things about manakete history and culture. She had her mother, and Nowi was relating her thousand-year-long life to Nah nightly. However, Nowi spent very little of her life among other manaketes and did not know enough to Nah's satisfaction.

Not that Nah blamed her mother. She had, after all, been kidnapped as a child and sold from person to person, treated no better than a circus animal. Nowi could not even remember where she came from—only that it was across the sea.

That reminded the blonde girl of how cruel life could be sometimes. Her father also had a tragic childhood, only his parents deliberately abandoned him, unlike Nowi or Nah herself. With what her parents went through, it seemed like fate that Nah would also grow up without her mother and father. She usually did not dwell on those thoughts, though. After all, Naga had given her this chance to get to know them, even if they were not exactly her birth parents.

With the lull in battles, the Shepherds had more time at camp after their marches. Now was an excellent time for Nah to get in some extra training with her mother. She wondered why it involved searching in the bushes for the green-haired manakete, though. Would she be looking for Risen and Valmese soldiers in the bushes, only to have them run away from her instead of attack?

_Think of it as training for ambushes…combined with endurance training_, the blonde thought. She said to her mother that she would trust her more. The older manakete had wisdom to her that she hid well; very well. Or at least, that's what Nah thought it was. The cynical part of her still thought of Nowi as incredibly childish and her moments of insights were just flukes.

It was, at least, a beautiful day for this game/training session. The wooded area was lush with foliage and warm rays of sunlight streamed through gaps in the trees. Even though Nah had been in the past for a few months, such natural wonders were still awe-inspiring to her. The large amount of shrubbery provided ample cover and the still wind prevented scents from being carried.

"Hey, Nah!"

The girl pulled her head out of the shrub she was investigating and looked in the direction the voice came from. She had not even realized that her search brought her close to camp. She saw Morgan, the voice in question, running over to her.

"Morgan?" Nah asked, then gritted her teeth.

"Did you lose something? The boy asked once her reached her.

"Um, well…" the half-manakete hesitated. While she and her mother trained away from camp to avoid disrupting activities there (upon Nah's insistence), it also helped to avoid awkward situations like this. For all intents and purposes, they were playing a game of hide-and-seek.

"Or maybe you're just looking for something?" he continued, not noticing her hesitancy, "I mean, something that you didn't lose."

Nah flushed a little and avoided looking him in the eye, "You could say that…"

Still oblivious to her nervousness, the blue-haired boy asked, "Do you want some help? What is it, anyway?"

Nah cringed. In a stern voice, she said, "I'm fine, Morgan, really. I don't need your help. In fact, I would rather you—"

A sudden loud rustle interrupted the girl. From several yards away, a green figure dropped from a tree, then quickly started running away from the two..

"Mother!" Nah exclaimed. Why didn't she think to look in the trees? Well, there wasn't any way she was chasing after Nowi now.

"Why is your mother running away from us?" Morgan asked. Looking up he continued, "And what was she doing up a tree?"

Nah could only stand there blushing with embarrassment. Finally she said, "Uh, you see…"

"Hey Nah!" Nowi called, having stopped running, "What's the hold up?"

Nah cringed again, "Mother, not now, please!" _Not in front of someone else_, she added in thought.

"He can play, too, if that's what you're worried about."

"That's not what I'm—how would he join in? Would I have to try to catch both of you?" Nah asked, flustered.

"Actually, it would be more interesting if you both tried to catch me. It'll be fun!" With that, the older started running again.

Nah made a groan of protest, but before she could voice her objections more discernibly, Morgan began to jog towards the direction her mother ran in.

"Morgan? What are you doing?"

He paused briefly to look at Nah and said, "You're mother said it's okay. Come on, we'll lose her!"

Despite all of the protests in her head about how absurd and embarrassing the situation was, Nah began to run as well. After all, Morgan was willing to join despite his puzzlement.

"So, it's tag, huh? Is there is a safe spot?" Morgan asked as Nah caught up to him.

The girl cringed and replied, "Yes. If Mother reaches that tall tree over there, she wins." She pointed to an oak that stood above the canopy.

Morgan nodded and said, "We won't be able to catch up to her in a flat run. I have an idea, though. Don't try and run after her, exactly. Run towards the tree so that Nowi will avoid it. Then try and chase her towards the east of the tree. I'll run over there and we can catch her in a pincer maneuver. "

Leave it to Morgan to think up an elaborate plan for a child's game. Still, his idea sounded quite clever. She imagined that while he wasn't a match for Robin, he took after his mother more than his father.

Nah increased her speed now that she did not have to hold enough breathe to speak and run at the same time. Maneuvering through the underbrush was difficult, but it also slowed Nowi down. Somewhat. The blonde girl reminded herself that she didn't need to catch her mother yet, just keep her away from that oak. While Nowi still had a good lead, Nah wasn't too far behind. Nowi started to turn away from her pursuer, but the girl kept running straight ahead. As Nah picked up her pace, Nowi turned to peer behind her, a look of puzzlement on her face. While bemused, she continued to angle away from Nah and the tree's path.

Nah was beginning to feel tired, but she still felt oddly invigorated. She wanted this plan to succeed and was excited that so far, it seemed to be working.

Once she judged that she was close enough to the giant oak, Nah began to run towards her mother to herd her eastward. In the back of her mind she wondered if Morgan had even made it to the point he said he would be, or if they'd even be able to catch Nowi. She could not watch where Morgan went or how fast he ran to get there. Still, she continued to pursue her mother, who at that point was laughing happily.

Just as the half-manakete mentally hoped that her mother would not start running back towards the tree, she saw the older manakete stop abruptly. Nowi turned around, looking slightly startled that her daughter was right behind her. Despite Nah's fatigue, the blonde increased her speed. She briefly noticed Morgan standing in a bush right in front of—now behind—Nowi, but she mostly focused on her quarry. Nowi started running again, but Nah was gaining fast, her mother's flapping cape just within reach. The half-manakete leaped, arms outstretched, and then caught the thousand-year-old. Both fell to the ground with a soft thud.

"Are you two okay?" Morgan asked as he jogged over to the two prone dragonkin. Nah panted as she stood up and got off of her mother's back.

"I'm fine," she told the blue-haired boy, "but, Mother, are you all right? I didn't land on you too hard, did I?"

Nowi sat up with an expression that was part grimace and mostly pout, "Hey, you're not playing fair by ganging up on me like that!"

Nah sighed, "Mother, you're the one who said it was okay for the both of us to chase you. You even said it would be fun."

"Yeah, well, it turns out that it's not fun, especially to be ganged up on!" As Nowi stood up and dusted herself off, Morgan chuckled.

"There's no better strategy than teamwork, ma'am. And you didn't make a rule saying we couldn't work together," the boy said.

Nah found herself smiling slightly at the prince calling her mother "ma'am." In spite of Nowi's true age, Morgan still looked a year or two older than her.

The green-haired manakete grumbled in an exaggerated way and crossed her arms. She soon relaxed her arms and laughed.

"You're Morgan, Robin and Chrom's son, right?" Nowi asked. The boy nodded, "I should have known you'd be good at this. Your mother is also good at planning and using her brain and stuff."

As Nah rolled her eyes, Morgan gave a light laugh and said, "Yeah, but I'm not nearly as good as she is."

"Well, if you aren't, I'm sure you will be soon!"

Nah smiled slightly. Her mother's good cheer and optimism could be contagious. It wasn't that long ago that Nowi exasperated her, and while on some levels she still did, Nah increasingly realized what sort of person the manakete was.

"Thank you for playing with us, Morgan," Nowi continued, "Nah looked like she actually had fun today."

The blonde flushed, "Mother!"

Apparently not noticing her embarrassment, Morgan said, "You don't have to thank me. I had a lot of fun."

"Huh? But…don't you think this is silly? It's just a game of hide-and-seek," Nah said. She knew the boy could be naïve to the point of goofy, but this seemed unreal to her.

"I guess it is a little kid's game, but I don't have many memories of playing those. I kind of remember playing with Mother, but I was really young then," Morgan replied.

"Oh…right," Nah said with a wince. Again she had to unintentionally bring up his amnesia. Morgan only laughed, saying not to worry about it. She could smell no intention to hide any preoccupation with his memory loss. Even so, Nah wondered if it bothered him more than he let on. Lucina once told her how he would bang his head against tomes and other objects in an attempt to get his memories back.

"But yeah," Morgan said, "because I don't remember playing games like tag and hide-and-seek, joining in with you two felt like a new experience. I was hoping it would help me remember something, too."

"Did it?" Nah asked.

"No, not really. But it was still fun," he replied, "Say, Nah, did we ever play together like that? In the future, I mean?"

The girl hesitated slightly. Morgan's jovial expression made her worry about his reaction, though she was not certain why.

"No. I hadn't come to Ylisstol until almost two years ago uh, I mean two years ago in the future, before we decided to come here." She spoke of the event as the past, but in the time period she was currently in, it would still be over a decade into the future. That could get rather confusing. Scholars of grammar would probably either get headaches or have a field day discussing the proper tenses as well.

"…Anyway," Nah continued, "I didn't know any of you as kids."

"Oh," the prince replied, "since I think everyone else has known each other for many year, I thought you did, too."

Nah didn't respond, unsure of what to say. While she did not dwell on it, there were times when she felt distant from the others, and not just because she did not grow up with them. Having someone else say that out loud made her feel a little awkward as well.

"Well, I'm kind of in the same boat. I used to be close to many of them, or so they tell me, but I don't remember it. I don't even remember anything about my own sister." There was a hint of melancholy on his voice.

"I guess…that is sort of similar," Nah replied. As she thought, his memory loss did bother him. She also mentally noted that in a sense, she knew them for longer than Morgan did. Morgan was anything but distant, however. He got along with the others quite easily, befriending, or perhaps "re-friending" most of them.

"So, who's hungry?" Nowi suddenly chirped, "Dinner should be ready soon."

The two younger individuals blinked. Morgan was the first to respond, "I guess I am. I hadn't noticed until now."

"Great!" Nowi said with a large smile, "Let's have a race! Last one to the mess tent is a used up dragonstone!" The green-haired manakete then took off in a dash.

"What? But!_—_" Nah gaped, suddenly being reminded of her fatigue.

"Yeah, I'm tired, too," the tactician-in-training said with a chuckle.

* * *

Nowi won that race easily. Morgan made his way over to the table his family sat at, but not before saying, "see you around, Nah," and being thanked again by her mother.

"Morgan sure is nice, huh?" Nowi asked after the boy was out of earshot, "His parents are, too, so I guess that's not really a surprise."

"I suppose he is," Nah replied.

"I'm glad to see you having fun with the others from your time. You're usually either with me, your father, or by yourself. At least now I know why."

"Uh…" was all the blonde could say.

"I know it can be hard to make friends, especially when you're not used to it. People can be scary. I had trouble, too, once."

"You?" she asked incredulously, "but you're always running around, getting anyone you can to play with you, and calling everyone friends."

"Well, sure, now I am. I used to be really scared of humans, though. It took me a long time to realize that there were plenty of nice people as well as scary ones."

"I see…" Nah said. While she did not ask, he could surmise why her mother had not always been so gregarious. Her years as a slave likely affected her view of humans for a long while afterwards.

"Anyway, it looks like you're already taking steps towards making friends," Nowi said, her tone kindly.

Nah flushed a little, "Morgan is really open with everyone. He's easy to talk to."

It was not as if the others shunned her or that she avoided them. Nah just was not all that close to them. She was well aware that they were much kinder than her foster family, but her time in that household still affected her. Their history as childhood friends did not help, and neither did the way that they sometimes treated her like a child. Morgan's exuberance and affable nature, though, made him hard to ignore.

And Nah found that she did not want to ignore him.

"I'm not sure if I could consider him a friend, though," Nah said, and she suddenly wish she had not let that thought slip. It made Nah feel awkward to openly state that she did not think of most of her other companions from the future to be close friends, especially in front of her mother.

"Morgan does," Nowi said with a wink.

The half-manakete hesitated. Morgan wanted to be her friend and it was not a stretch that he already thought of her as one. She was on good terms with the boy already.

Nowi chuckled and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Oh Nah, don't worry about it. I'm sure you two will be great friend."

The blonde blushed again, but she nodded.

"You know, I should get Morgan to play with us again since you liked it so much the first time," Nowi said, her voice changed from her kindly tone to her more common frivolous one.

"Mother!"


End file.
